Xbox Series X price hiked by £170 due to rising memory chip costs

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Cite

McMahon, L. (2026, August 4). Xbox Series X price hiked by £170 due to rising memory chip costs. BBC News. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czjlvrd9e43o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

BBC News · collected 2026-08-04 · by Liv McMahon

Quick Summary

Microsoft has raised the price of its Xbox consoles worldwide due to increasing costs for memory and storage chips. The premium Series X console now costs £670, up from £500, while the baseline Xbox Series S console costs £430, a 43% increase from £300. The company cites rising demand for memory chips used in artificial intelligence as one reason for the price hike, which has also affected rival Sony and other tech firms. Microsoft had previously hoped to avoid another price increase but ultimately raised prices globally, including in the US and EU, despite criticism of passing costs onto consumers.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-08-21, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Microsoft has increased the price of Xbox consoles worldwide due to rising memory and storage chip costs. The company's premium Series X console with a disc drive will now cost £670, up from its previous price of £500, while the baseline Xbox Series S console will now cost £430, a 43% increase on its previous price of £300. This price hike is not unique to Microsoft, as rival Sony recently increased the price of the PlayStation 5 by £90, and other tech companies like Valve have also raised their prices due to rising component costs. Microsoft had previously said it hoped another price increase would not be necessary in June, but was forced to raise prices due to the increasing cost of console storage and memory. The price increases are not limited to Europe, as similar hikes have been revealed in the US and EU.

Written for “Xbox Price Increase” on 2026-10-16, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Xbox Price Increase
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

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How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
34
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
12%
4 of 34 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
69/100
BBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-08-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

BBC News · 3553 article(s) · 4 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 4 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Liv McMahon
8 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 In a statement given to news outlets including CNBC, external, the company said it had not used Taction's vibration tech and would appeal the verdict.
🔮 In October, Robin Williams' daughter asked fans to stop sending fake AI-generated videos of her father.
🔮 The models it tested were granted access to the internet, and the AISI also disabled in-built filters that would usually block dangerous cyber-attacks.
🔮 Thursday's ruling is in addition to $375m in fines Meta was already ordered to pay in the case, for a total of $942m. Judge Biedscheid compared Meta to a factory, with advertising and content as its product and "the psychological harm and sexual exploitation of children to be the pollution that must be abated". A spokesman for Meta, which owns and operates Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and Threads, said Thursday: "We disagree with the ruling and will appeal."
🔮 Meta also said it will publish more information on the incident "once we have all the facts."
🔮 Its premium Series X console with a disc drive will now cost £670, when it previously retailed for £500.
🔮 The government said it would not comment on legal proceedings or what it called "operational matters".
🔮 - Published Brits going on holiday abroad this summer have been warned to watch out for dangerous travel adaptors, after an investigation suggested thousands may be for sale online.
Also by Liv McMahon
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 8 articles by Liv McMahon →

Topics

Microsoft Series X Sony Xbox Xbox Series S

Subjects

Microsoft ORG · 3× Xbox ORG · 3× Sony ORG · 2× @BlackPanthaa PERSON · 1× Amazon ORG · 1× BBC ORG · 1× Jez Corden PERSON · 1× Reddit ORG · 1× Valve ORG · 1× Windows Central ORG · 1×

Narrative

Prices for graphics cards, a key component of consoles and gaming PCs, have also gone up because of their use in generating AI content. But large tech firms have faced criticism for passing such costs to consumers - particularly when it can mean paying eye-watering amounts for products released years ago.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-08-04
🔮 Its premium Series X console with a disc drive will now cost £670, when it previously retailed for £500.
2026-08-04 · BBC News
Xbox Series X price hiked by £170 due to rising memory chip costs · assertive framing

Claims (34 extracted, 4 hedged)

- Published Microsoft has increased the price of Xbox consoles worldwide, citing rising memory and storage chip costs. asserted
Microsoft → publish → costs
Its premium Series X console with a disc drive will now cost £670, when it previously retailed for £500. asserted
it → cost → 500
Meanwhile a baseline Xbox Series S console now costs £430 - a roughly 43% increase on its previous £300 price tag. asserted
console → cost → tag
It is among a host of tech firms to have told consumers that spiralling component costs mean they must charge more, with rival Sony hiking PlayStation 5 prices by £90 in March. asserted
Sony → tell → March
Microsoft said in June it had "hoped another price increase would not be necessary", but blamed the rising cost of console storage and memory for needing to raise prices on consumers. asserted
increase → say → consumers
In the US, its basic consoles rose by $100 to $499, and the cost of a console with more memory increased by $150 to $749. asserted
cost → rise → 749
Similar increases have been revealed in the EU as well - where a Series S console with more storage will cost roughly €200 more than it did before. asserted
it → reveal → storage
As well as Sony increasing PlayStation prices, Steam Machine maker Valve launched its PC-console hybrid at a much higher cost than expected. asserted
Valve → increase → cost
Both likewise pointed to mounting costs for the hardware and storage components needed to power their devices. asserted
Both → point → devices
Once a cheap part used to provide computers and a range of gadgets with short-term memory, random-access memory (RAM) has shot up in price due, in part, to demand from AI firms. asserted
memory → use → firms
Prices for graphics cards, a key component of consoles and gaming PCs, have also gone up because of their use in generating AI content. But large tech firms have faced criticism for passing such costs to consumers - particularly when it can mean paying eye-watering amounts for products released years ago. asserted
it → go → products
X user @BlackPanthaa called the new Xbox Series S price, external "absolutely disgusting", while a Reddit user said, external it was "highway robbery for a console released 6 years ago". asserted
it → call → console
Some fear console prices - which have essentially been raised across the board in recent months - could go higher still. uncertain
which → fear → months
"This ain't even the ceiling," wrote, external Windows Central editor Jez Corden on X of Xbox's price increases. asserted
Corden → be → increases
Amazon's gaming boss recently told the BBC increasing hardware costs may lead more people to ditch consoles and stream games instead. uncertain
people → tell → games
Xbox has also seen its own struggles lately, with owner Microsoft recently revealing revenues had dipped across its gaming division, external. asserted
revenues → see → division
In July, it initiated what executives called "the most significant restructure in Xbox history" with approximately 3,200 reductions across its workforce. asserted
executives → initiate → workforce
- Published Microsoft has increased the price of Xbox consoles worldwide, citing rising memory and storage chip costs. asserted
Microsoft → publish → costs
Its premium Series X console with a disc drive will now cost £670, when it previously retailed for £500. asserted
it → cost → 500
Meanwhile a baseline Xbox Series S console now costs £430 - a roughly 43% increase on its previous £300 price tag. asserted
console → cost → tag
It is among a host of tech firms to have told consumers that spiralling component costs mean they must charge more, with rival Sony hiking PlayStation 5 prices by £90 in March. asserted
Sony → tell → March
Microsoft said in June it had "hoped another price increase would not be necessary", but blamed the rising cost of console storage and memory for needing to raise prices on consumers. asserted
increase → say → consumers
In the US, its basic consoles rose by $100 to $499, and the cost of a console with more memory increased by $150 to $749. asserted
cost → rise → 749
Similar increases have been revealed in the EU as well - where a Series S console with more storage will cost roughly €200 more than it did before. asserted
it → reveal → storage
As well as Sony increasing PlayStation prices, Steam Machine maker Valve launched its PC-console hybrid at a much higher cost than expected. asserted
Valve → increase → cost
Both likewise pointed to mounting costs for the hardware and storage components needed to power their devices. asserted
Both → point → devices
Once a cheap part used to provide computers and a range of gadgets with short-term memory, random-access memory (RAM) has shot up in price due, in part, to demand from AI firms. asserted
memory → use → firms
Prices for graphics cards, a key component of consoles and gaming PCs, have also gone up because of their use in generating AI content. But large tech firms have faced criticism for passing such costs to consumers - particularly when it can mean paying eye-watering amounts for products released years ago. asserted
it → go → products
X user @BlackPanthaa called the new Xbox Series S price, external "absolutely disgusting", while a Reddit user said, external it was "highway robbery for a console released 6 years ago". asserted
it → call → console
Some fear console prices - which have essentially been raised across the board in recent months - could go higher still. uncertain
which → fear → months
"This ain't even the ceiling," wrote, external Windows Central editor Jez Corden on X of Xbox's price increases. asserted
Corden → be → increases
Amazon's gaming boss recently told the BBC increasing hardware costs may lead more people to ditch consoles and stream games instead. uncertain
people → tell → games
Xbox has also seen its own struggles lately, with owner Microsoft recently revealing revenues had dipped across its gaming division, external. asserted
revenues → see → division
In July, it initiated what executives called "the most significant restructure in Xbox history" with approximately 3,200 reductions across its workforce. asserted
executives → initiate → workforce
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